Airport lounge access and priority boarding

[toothgrind3r]

Hello.  I am someone who doesn't travel too much...maybe 3-5 times a year.  Not looking to rack up tons of miles for free flights or anything....but two things that would make traveling much nicer for me would be lounge access and/or priority boarding.

Are there any cards out there that come with these benefits now-a-days?

[B335is]

Do you find yourself flying one airline or more interested in a particular lounge? Citi Executive AAdvantage was nice when I was using AA frequently last year, enough so that I kept it longer than originally anticipated. Amex Priority Pass has been hit or miss where it has accepted it for me.

[Anonymous]

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@toothgrind3r wrote:

Hello.  I am someone who doesn't travel too much...maybe 3-5 times a year.  Not looking to rack up tons of miles for free flights or anything....but two things that would make traveling much nicer for me would be lounge access and/or priority boarding.

Are there any cards out there that come with these benefits now-a-days?

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I wonder if you don't stick to a specific airline, if a person is able to add on priority boarding for a nominal fee to their ticket, and then be reimbursed from a credit card like Prestige/Premier/PRG/Ritz/etc?

I can tell based on your heavy use cards you dont focus much on rewards. That is fine.... but even if you fly 5 times a year, switching out the BCE and adding in a premier/prestige or a freedom/csp combo or a EDP/Delta Gold could prove handy....

Others will chime in on the lounges....I think the Amex Platinum has lounge access, as does the ritz, Diners Elite (new apps dc'd for now), and prestige.

[toothgrind3r]

To answer both your questions, no, I am not loyal to one airline, nor do I really have a preference at this point.

And yeah, I'm not much of a rewards person...more into easy cashback.

I'll start looking at what's been reco'd....thanks!

[NRB525]

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@toothgrind3r wrote:

Hello.  I am someone who doesn't travel too much...maybe 3-5 times a year.  Not looking to rack up tons of miles for free flights or anything....but two things that would make traveling much nicer for me would be lounge access and/or priority boarding.

Are there any cards out there that come with these benefits now-a-days?

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Priority Boarding is easy: Delta AMEX, Citi AAdvantage, Chase United, BofA Alaska Air. Works as long as you have the card. Generally the other non-airline branded cards do not offer priority boarding.

The other way to get priority boarding is to have elite status, but both the credit card and the elite status require some level of focus on one airline.

The side advantage to each of the 4 cards above is, first checked bag free, and extra miles when you use the card to pay for tickets.

Now when you talk lounge access, that's a whole other kettle of fish. You can get basic Delta lounge access, buy your way in, with the Delta AMEX, United gives you two passes per year I think, but not the other two. So there is very limited lounge availability in the basic airline cards.

To get real lounge access, you have to go to the $450 AF cards (Diners Premier being not available). They have all kinds of possibilities, and restrictions and holes here and there, but the other avenue is to outright buy a PriorityPass membership for $100 per year, and $27 per visit. It's out of pocket cost, but if you don't want to shell out $450 for an unknown number of visits, it's a viable alternative.

[Anonymous]

UNFCU has one card that gives Priority Pass lounge access ($50 AF): https://www.unfcu.org/product.aspx?id=386. You'll need to be related to the UN somehow or join UNA-USA to be eligible for that CU.

[FinStar]

That's another option provided the OP can get approved for their Visa Elite (given minimum income requirements for that particular card).

I joined UNFCU not long ago and it was a pretty lengthy, manual process to join and was approved for their Visa Elite. The OP would still need to fund the minimum for UNFCU membership plus the UNA-USA association fee. Still, the overall (low) initial investment for this Elite card can provide some decent benefits in the long run for some folks.

[jsucool76]

Something like the amex plat or ritz carlton card will reimburse you for both lounge access, and priority boarding when added to your ticket. Ritz will work for any airline, amex plat will require you to choose a single airline every year.


I'd recommend the ritz card for this as it lets you use any airline. It's $395 a year, but will grant you marriott gold status for your travels, and reimburse up to $300 for club access, priority access, and checked baggage.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

UNFCU has one card that gives Priority Pass lounge access ($50 AF): https://www.unfcu.org/product.aspx?id=386. You'll need to be related to the UN somehow or join UNA-USA to be eligible for that CU.

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...and earn more than $75k...

[FinStar]

Exactly, that's what I hinted in my post above with the income requirement for the Visa Elite.